Fine Bros. Take On 'Prop 8' in New Series

Web video pioneers Benny and Rafi Fine have joined the fight to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage with Prop. 8: The Web Series, a five-episode social satire that pokes fun at various rights from the state’s Constitution via a “what-if” scenario.

After hearing arguments to overturn the voter-approved Prop. 8, the California Supreme Court has 90 days in which to rule on the measure. The first episode of the brothers’ series takes on religion and launched Thursday (see above).

“This is the cause of our generation and as soon as word came that Prop. 8 had passed, our anger rose to and were moved to take action,” the brothers said. “We grew up as Orthodox Jews so we know a great deal about exclusion; and grew up in a very open household to parents who were bringing in runaway teens of all walks of life to get their life on track, so full acceptance and equality is something we hold dear.”

The brothers felt that Prop. 8 The Musical

was “amazing, but it almost feels like it put the bar so high people shied away from making material. This will hopefully change and more will follow suit.”

The duo initially attempted to find a company to assist in producing the series and opted instead to make it independently, financing it themselves.

“As you can imagine, despite personal opinions some of the companies did not want the controversial and possible backlash the series can create, and in a weakened economy, it’s hard to find folks willing to spend money at all in web video currently, let alone for a political message,” they said.

The series, in which the brothers will appear, also features familiar faces in the Web video community, including Sara E.R. Fletcher (Secret Girlfriend), Maxwell Glick (lonelygirl15) as well as Tubefilter’s own Lindsay Stidham. Filming took place in the home owned by series music composer Joseph Carrillo and his husband Gregory Frye, who assisted the production with filming locations. The fate of the couple’s marriage is now in the state Supreme Court’s hands.

Episodes run one to two minutes each, with the second episode of the series set to bow March 26 and target the “power of the U.S. Army.”

New installments will be available on the brothers’ YouTube channel, as well as on CollegeHumor, FunnyOrDie, DailyMotion, MySpace and more.

“We are big believers in having reach when it comes to our web videos,” said the brothers, whose videos including their notoriously imitated Lost: What Happens Next series, have racked up over 20 million views on eight different sites.

And if the state Supreme Court issues a ruling on Prop. 8 before all five episodes have unspooled? The brothers are just fine with that.

“We hope the ruling ends the issue specifically of Prop. 8, at which time we will refocus our efforts to providing content related to federally legalizing same-sex marriage,” they said. “We also hope to get in touch with the leaders of the cause locally, and help them produce official content if they saw us fit to do so.”